Astronomy – Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas https://brewminate.com Thu, 06 Nov 2025 01:55:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://brewminate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/cropped-BrewBLogo01-32x32.jpg Astronomy – Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas https://brewminate.com 32 32 From Martian Canals to Exoplanet Biosignatures: The Historic Scientific Search for Life beyond Earth https://brewminate.com/from-martian-canals-to-exoplanet-biosignatures-the-historic-scientific-search-for-life-beyond-earth/ Fri, 19 Sep 2025 14:00:53 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=263168 The arc from Lowell’s imagined Martian engineers to Webb’s atmospheric spectroscopy demonstrates not only the persistence of human

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]]> Celestial Ledgers: How Babylonian Astronomy Governed Seasons, Taxes, and Empire https://brewminate.com/celestial-ledgers-how-babylonian-astronomy-governed-seasons-taxes-and-empire/ Wed, 13 Aug 2025 14:33:15 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=260520 Babylonian astronomy cannot be fully understood if confined to the history of science. It was, fundamentally, a socio-political

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]]> Moisture, Melancholy, and the Moon: Medieval Understandings of Lunar Power https://brewminate.com/moisture-melancholy-and-the-moon-medieval-understandings-of-lunar-power/ Wed, 13 Aug 2025 14:31:04 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=260527 For the medieval observer, the moon was a constant companion whose phases ordered the most intimate aspects of

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]]> Celestial Engines: The Birth and History of Modern Astrophysics from the 19th Century https://brewminate.com/celestial-engines-the-birth-and-history-of-modern-astrophysics-from-the-19th-century/ Wed, 13 Aug 2025 14:28:59 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=260533 The history of modern astrophysics is, in many ways, the history of a deepening intimacy with the cosmos,

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]]> Wan Hu and the Celestial Quest: Dreams of Earth’s Atmospheric Shell in Medieval China https://brewminate.com/wan-hu-and-the-celestial-quest-dreams-of-earths-atmospheric-shell-in-medieval-china/ Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:03:28 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=257988 By Matthew A. McIntoshPublic HistorianBrewminate Introduction In the vast expanse of Chinese legend, few tales capture the imagination

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]]> Turning the Heavens: How the Renaissance Moved the Earth and Recentered the Sun https://brewminate.com/turning-the-heavens-how-the-renaissance-moved-the-earth-and-recentered-the-sun/ Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:02:32 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=257995 Heliocentrism’s triumph reshaped the epistemological foundations of knowledge itself. By Matthew A. McIntoshPublic HistorianBrewminate Introduction The intellectual revolution

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]]> The 19th-Century Astronomer Who Used Science Fiction to Imagine Mars https://brewminate.com/the-19th-century-astronomer-who-used-science-fiction-to-imagine-mars/ Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:01:24 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=258003 In the 19th century, astronomers could see Mars through telescopes, but not clearly. By Dr. Matthew ShindellCurator, Planetary

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]]> Race to the Moon: American Space Exploration since 1955 https://brewminate.com/race-to-the-moon-american-space-exploration-since-1955/ Thu, 09 Jan 2025 15:04:55 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=248170 After two defeats by the Soviets, the U.S. was desperate for a win. Introduction After World War II,

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]]> Lunar Standstill: Prehistoric Stonehenge May Have Aligned with Both the Moon and the Sun https://brewminate.com/lunar-standstill-prehistoric-stonehenge-may-have-aligned-with-both-the-moon-and-the-sun/ Fri, 24 May 2024 14:15:02 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=233866 The monument’s ancient connection to the skies may run even deeper than we realized. Introduction When it comes

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]]> Stars in Their Eyes: Art and Astronomy in the Medieval World https://brewminate.com/stars-in-their-eyes-art-and-astronomy-in-the-medieval-world/ Fri, 24 May 2024 14:14:07 +0000 https://brewminate.com/?p=234289 A small sample of the ways the planets and stars were portrayed in medieval manuscripts. After coming across

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